The major water storage for Bathurst is Chifley Dam located on the Campbell's River some 17 kilometres upstream of Bathurst.

Water released from the dam flows down the Campbells River into the Macquarie River. It is then drawn from the Macquarie to supply Bathurst. Chifley Dam is an earth and rockfill structure.

The catchment area is 960 square kilometres, and the dam's capacity with the present wall height is 30,800 million litres.

The earth wall is 455 metres long and 34.4 metres high. It has a concrete side channel spillway on the eastern side of the embankment.

There is also a six bay, 172 metre wide emergency spillway excavated into natural material on the western side of the structure, designed to sequentially operate if the side channel spillway cannot cope with high flood flows.

Access to Water Related ActivitiesHours Dam Area is Open

Currently Chifley Dam is open for all water activities, and monitoring is undertaken on a regular basis. The public recreational area nearest the dam wall including the main boat ramp will be closed and locked at 9pm during daylight savings and at 6pm during winter, and will re-open at 7:30am each morning. The area adjacent to the cabins will remain open.

Situated on the shores of one of the most peaceful waterways in inland New South Wales the Chifley Dam cabins offer a perfect place to stay.

Just a short drive to the south of Bathurst there are 6 cabins to choose from ranging in size from 1 bedroom that sleeps 2 people up to 6 bedrooms that can sleep up to 12.

Originally home to some of the world’s athletes at Sydneys’ Olympic Games in 2000 the cabins now provide accommodation for visitors to Chifley Dam.

Fish, swim, sail, waterski or just enjoy the scenery.

For further details or to make a booking please contact the Bathurst Visitor Information Centre on 1800 68 1000 or (02) 6332 1444 or visit Chifley Cabins.

Chifley Dam Primitive Camping Area

There are now limited camping opportunities available for visitors within the recreation area. Please see below for further information regarding the camping opportunities available at Chifley Dam. The Chifley Dam Primitive Camping Area has been established on the Northern side of the Dam. The area is accessible from Chifley Dam road.

Bathurst Regional Council takes no responsibility for personal injury or loss or damage to property.

Access gates are opened at 7.30am daily and closed at 6pm during winter and 9pm during daylight savings without exception, gates will not be opened for visitors to enter or exit the area at other times.

There is a maximum of four (4) camp sites which can be occupied at any point in time, only one campervan or caravan may occupy any site while multiple tents may occupy one site as long as the number of visitors per site is less than twelve (12).

Sites cannot be booked in advance or reserved, any unoccupied site may be used

Maximum stay is three (3) nights.

Bathurst Regional Council does not take any responsibility for the availability of camp sites

Visitors are not permitted to leave unoccupied caravans, campervans or tents on site for more than 24 hours.

Minimum distance between sites: Six (6) metres between a caravan/campervan and any other caravan/campervan or tent and three (3) metres between tents.

Visitors must occupy the sites located within the designated camping area only.

Take your rubbish with you when you leave or use bins provided.

Dogs are not permitted (with the exceptional of assistance animals).

Fires are not permitted.

Trail Bikes are not permitted.

For general enquiries phone Bathurst Visitor Information Centre on 6332 1444 between 9am and 5pm daily. To view the location of the Chifley Dam Primitive Camping Area please click here.